Quest
An English name denoting a search or pursuit of an object.
Name Census estimates that about 1,052 living Americans carry the first name Quest. It is a predominantly male name (94.9% of registrations). The average person named Quest today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Quest births was 2022 (93 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Quest. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Quest is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 325,812 Americans
Peak year
2022
93 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,122
Tracked since 1991
Census
Quest in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 637 people with the first name Quest, which placed it at #17,359 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,359
National first-name rank
People counted
637
637 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Quest
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quest is Black at 39.6%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Hispanic (14.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Quest described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Quest at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.6% · 252
- White32.0% · 204
- Hispanic or Latino14.1% · 90
- Two or more races11.3% · 72
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Quest
Quest leans heavily male at 94.9% of total registrations, but 54 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Quest as a male name
- Ranked #2,122 in 2024
- 70 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (85 births)
Quest as a female name
- Ranked #14,819 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quest leans strongly male. 580 people counted with this name were male (91.3%), compared with 55 female bearers (8.7%).
Popularity
Quest: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Quest from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 421 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Quest by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Quest during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Quests live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Quest, while Maryland, Indiana, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Quest
The name Quest is a relatively modern English name derived from the Old French word "queste", which itself comes from the Latin "quaestus", meaning "a seeking" or "an inquiry". It was originally used as a surname referring to someone who went on quests or journeys, but over time it transitioned into being used as a given name.
The earliest known use of Quest as a first name dates back to the late 19th century, though it remained quite rare until the mid-20th century. One of the first recorded individuals with the name was Quest Whitehair, a Native American of the Cheyenne tribe born around 1860.
Another notable early bearer of the name was Quest Crew, an American actor and vaudeville performer who was active in the early 1900s. He is best known for his role in the 1916 silent film "The Mysteries of Myra".
In the world of literature, one of the earliest references to Quest as a name can be found in the 1922 novel "The Quest" by John Galsworthy. The book features a character named Quest Uprichard, though it's unclear if Galsworthy coined the name or drew inspiration from existing usage.
One of the most famous people named Quest was Quest Love, an American drummer, DJ, and member of the hip-hop group The Roots. Born Ahmir Khalib Thompson in 1971, Quest Love has won multiple Grammy Awards and is widely respected in the music industry.
Another notable figure was Quest Pistole, an American actor and stuntman born in 1947. He appeared in numerous films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, often performing his own stunts, and was also a successful professional rodeo cowboy.
While still relatively uncommon, the name Quest has gained more popularity in recent decades, likely due to its unique sound and association with concepts of adventure, exploration, and seeking knowledge or truth.
People
Quest + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Quest as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Quest: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Quest?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,052 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Quest going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 325,812 US residents.
Is Quest a common name?
We classify Quest as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,063 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Quest most popular?
The single biggest year for Quest was 2022, when 93 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Quest is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Quest in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 637 people with the name Quest, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,359 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Quest in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Quest?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quest leans strongly male. 580 people counted with this name were male (91.3%), compared with 55 female bearers (8.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Quest?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quest is Black at 39.6%. The next largest groups are White (32.0%) and Hispanic (14.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Quest most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Quest in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.6% (252 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Quest in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Quest a male name?
Yes, 94.9% of people registered as Quest in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Quest still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Quest in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Quest can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Quest?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.